The Better in Boston magnet is a dual symbol of the Lily’s and Atlas’s past and future. In high school, they bond over their struggle to survive toxic living situations, and they spend a lot of time together imagining the future and thinking things will be easier and happier then. They imagine the future taking place in Boston because Atlas has fond memories of living there as a child. Atlas repeatedly promises Lily that “everything is better in Boston,” and they dream of living there together. When Atlas leaves for Boston much earlier than expected to live with his uncle, he gives Lily a magnet bearing the same phrase to remind her of their bond and their shared dream of the future. He promises to find her once he has made something of himself. Though they go their separate ways and Lily, as an adult, believes she has long since let go of Atlas, she keeps the magnet on her fridge. For Lily, the magnet memorializes the lost love that made her strive for a better future. The magnet’s presence on Lily’s refrigerator also symbolizes the way she has maintained the small, quiet hope that she might reunite with Atlas one day. Whenever she sees it, she thinks of Atlas, keeping his memory ever-present. For Atlas’s part, the decision he made as an adult to name his new restaurant Bib’s—Better in Boston—mirrors the same lingering hope that he will find Lily again.
That the magnet symbolizes this relationship is not lost on Ryle, either. When he reads the newspaper article that features Lily’s floral shop as a top new Boston business, he sees that Atlas’s business has made the top of the same list. Atlas reveals the meaning of the acronymic title in his interview with the newspaper, and Ryle connects Atlas’s explanation to the magnet Lily keeps on her fridge. When Ryle reads Lily’s old journals, he confirms his worst fears. Ryle’s reaction to this information underscores the magnet’s symbolism. Ryle takes Lily’s choice to keep the magnet not only as mark of her and Atlas’s past bond or a tenuous hope for the future, but also as a confirmation that they have an active, hidden relationship. Regardless of what is true and what is mere assumption on Ryle’s part, nothing justifies Ryle’s alcohol-fueled response—attacking Lily and attempting to overwhelm any remaining ties to Atlas with force—and it ultimately spells the end for him and Lily. Indirectly, then, the magnet—and the good, healthy relationship it symbolizes—contribute to Lily’s ultimate decision to break the cycle of abuse and leave Ryle.
Lily’s Better in Boston Magnet Quotes in It Ends with Us
“I will say…I kind of wish this could have happened a year ago.”
I wince at his words, trying not to let them penetrate […]
I didn’t expect to feel this much hurt after seeing him.
But it’s good. This happened for a reason. My heart needed closure so I can give it to Ryle, but maybe I couldn’t do that until this happened.
“I wanted to apologize for saying that you sounded like your mother. That was hurtful. And I’m sorry.”
I don’t know why I always feel like crying when I’m around him. When I think about him. When I read about him. It’s like my emotions are still tethered to him somehow and I can’t figure out how to cut the strings […]
He writes something down on the sticky note and then proceeds to pull my phone apart. He slips the case off and puts the sticky note between the care and the phone, then slides the cover back over it […]
“It’s my cell phone number. Keep it hidden there in case you ever need it.”
I wince at the gesture. The unnecessary gesture. “I won’t need it.”
“I hope not.”
He told me he’d bet gone for four years and that the last thing that he wanted for me was to be a sixteen-year-old not living my life because of a boyfriend I never got to see or hear from […]
“I’m going to make a promise to you,” he said. “When my life is good enough for you to be a part of it, I’ll come find you.”
[…] I opened the bag and pulled out the best present I’d ever received. It was a magnet that said “Boston” on the top. At the bottom in tiny letters, it said “Where everything is better.” I told him I would keep it forever, and every time I look at it I’ll think of him.
He holds up my phone and just looks at me like I should know what’s happening. When I shake my head in confusion, he holds up a piece of paper. “Funny thing,” he says, setting my phone on the coffee table in front of him. “I dropped your phone by accident. Cover pops off. I find this number hidden in the back of it.”
Oh, God.
No, no, no.
He crumbles the number in his fist. “I thought, Huh. That’s weird. Lily doesn’t hide things from me […] He chunks my phone clear across the room and it crashes against the wall, shattering to the floor.
There’s a three-second pause where I think this could go one of two ways.
He’s going to leave me.
Or he’s going to hurt me.
His arm comes around my waist from behind. He slides a hand up my stomach and takes a firm hold of one of my breasts. His other hand feathers my shoulder as he moves the hair away from my neck.
I squeeze my eyes shut, just as fingers begin to trace across my skin, up to my shoulder. He slowly runs his finger over the heart and a shudder runs through my whole body. His lip meets my skin, right over the tattoo, and then he sinks his teeth into me so hard, I scream […]
He’s really angry now. “He’s in everything. The magnet on the fridge. The journal in the box I found in our closet. The fucking tattoo on your body that used to be my favorite goddamn part of you!”
“Why did you never come back for me?”
[…] “Why did you lie about having a girlfriend?”
He rubs a hand over his face and I can already see the regret before I even hear it in his voice. “I said that because…you looked happy that night. When I saw you telling him goodbye, it hurt like hell, but at the same time I was relieved that you seemed to be in a really good place. I didn’t want you to worry about me. And I don’t know…maybe I was a little jealous. I don’t know, Lily. I regretted lying to you as soon as I did it.”
[…] I instantly start thinking about the what-ifs. What if he would have been honest with me? Told me how he’d felt? Where would we be now?
I want to ask him why he did it. Why he didn’t fight for me.
“I know this is the last thing you need to hear right now. But I have to say it because I’ve walked away from you too many times without saying what I really want to say.”
He pulls back to look down at me and when he sees my tears, he brings his hands up to my cheeks. “In the future…if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again…fall in love with me.”
Lily’s Better in Boston Magnet Symbol Timeline in It Ends with Us
